BREAKING: Kentucky Election Results Stun Nation… And Donald Trump May Be Behind It All

A landmark victory by Tea Party favorite Matt Bevin in Kentucky, where he on Tuesday defeated Democrat Jack Conway for the governorship and thus became the second Republican governor in the state since 1971, bodes very well for 2016 GOP presidential contender Donald Trump for several key reasons.

For one, though recent polls showed Bevin narrowly being defeated by Conway, Bevin wound up crushing Conway 53 to 44 because of what one upset Democrat described as “Trump-mania.”

“Unfortunately, (Conway) ran into the unexpected head winds of Trump-mania, losing to an outsider candidate in the Year of the Outsider,” Democratic Governors Association Executive Director Elisabeth Pearson complained to The Washington Post.

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If “Trump-mania” was able to do that for an aspiring Republican governor, just imagine what it could do for Trump himself, who aspires to be the next president of the United States. Or for Ben Carson, Ted Cruz or Carly Fiorina, all of whom are running as Republican “outsiders.”

Furthermore, many had likened Bevin to Trump as per Bevin’s track record as a successful self-funding businessman — one who was unafraid to not only admit his wealth and answer questions about his taxes, but also reportedly travel the state in a lavish gold Cadillac Escalade.

Bevin is in many ways a slightly less bombastic and less wealthy version of Trump. And yet, despite all the overwhelming evidence that he was going to lose — perhaps similar to the polls that show Trump would lose to Hillary? — Bevin came out on top like a champ.

One could even argue that Bevin won primarily because he emulated Trump’s style and rhetoric. The point is that if acting like Trump took Bevin this far, then how much is being Trump going to be worth next November?